Joel Salatin teaches farming innovation

In the world of celebrity farmers, you don't get much bigger than Joel Salatin.

Mr Salatin operates a farm with his family in the Swoope region of West Virginia and travels the world promoting his hands-on approach to farming and coordinating localised food systems.

The Salatin’s 22ha property directly supplies more than 5000 families, 10 retail outlets and 50 restaurants within a three hour drive of the farm.

The farm is a ‘multi-speciated’, pasture-based livestock farm and they family grows beef, pigs, turkey, laying chickens, meat chickens, ducks, sheep and rabbits.

Over the past two weeks Mr Salatin visited producers in rural areas around Australia and New Zealand and presented workshops teaching people how to diversify farming operations and increase the number of people working on one property.

Mr Salatin presented his last workshop in Manjimup and worked with his farming audience to find out why they farmed and what they were hoping to achieve to ensure their business longevity.

He appeared alongside his son Daniel and daughter-in-law Sheri.

Mr Salatin says he grew up with an innate desire to be surrounded by abundance.

He says farmers can be risk averse when it comes to innovating and trying new things.

“Change is hard and routine is safe.

Even if it’s a bad routine sometimes a bad routine is safer than the unknown.”

Kulin farmer Sara Wilson attended the workshop and says it was interesting in its diverse approach to growing and producing.